Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The 7to7 news blog will be officially off duty on Tuesday, the Veterans Day holiday.

Projo.com will update as usual with reports from The Journal newspaper, sports blogs, national and international news, and, as warranted, major local breaking news.

You can, of course, continue to add your comments to our stories, upload photos and take advantage of our interactive features.

We'll be back Wednesday morning at 7.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day -- and there are various ceremonies around our area.

There will be a ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter, beginning at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Veterans, family members and family members of those who died, POW or MIA invited to attend. A Special Forces memorial ceremony will be at 8:30 am.

In Bristol, there will be a wreath laying and ecumenical service, sponsored by the state Division of Veterans Affairs partnering with the Bristol Veterans Council. The ceremony will be at 9:30 a.m. at the state veterans home in Bristol, 480 Metacom Ave.

In Cranston, the National Guard will do a presentation of colors and there will be a reading in honor of veterans, a musical tribute, and a showing of the miniseries "Band of Brothers" by Steven Spielberg. The ceremony and activities will be at the Cranston Department of Senior Services, 1070 Cranston St., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

George Reilly's Veterans Journal highlights more activities tomorrow. Find more Veterans Day ceremonies at projothebeat.com, The Journal's online calendar of goings-on throughout Rhode Island and beyond.

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island is staring down a projected current-year deficit of more than $300 million, according to House Fiscal Office figures.

Those figures were calculated on the last day of the semiannual Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference, which ended about 5 p.m.

The fiscal year began July 1 and ends June 30.

The budget deficit includes a shortfall of about $233 million in anticipated revenues, according to calculations that increased as the day went on. It also reflects a $37 million deficit from the previous fiscal year.

And for the coming budget year, which beings July 1, 2009, the state faces a projected deficit of about $450 million.

It is important to note that both could be conservative estimates at this point -- a clearer picture will emerge later this week or early next week.

The current-year deficit is twice the size of last fiscal year's mid-year deficit.

Representatives from the governor's budget office, the House and Senate fiscal offices participated in the revenue-estimating conference.

This evening, Carcieri issued a statement on the estimate, saying:

"We expected revenues to be down due to the current economic climate, but we did not anticipate the shortfall would be this great. The gravity of the situation is going to require more dramatic steps."

He said his staff, anticipating a revenue drop, has been meeting for several weeks to develop plans for closing the budget gap.

Next week, the Republican governor said, he'll look to meet with leaders of Democratic-majority Assembly to review proposals and develop plans to address "our current fiscal crisis."

" We simply cannot afford to wait to address our economic situation," Carcieri said. "Now is the time for everyone to work together, and may require the General Assembly to take immediate action."

-- With reports from Steve Peoples of the Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat, has just won the Democratic Caucus's endorsement to become the first woman to be president of the Rhode Island Senate.

The full Senate must elect the president, but in Rhode Island Democrats hold enormous majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. The Democratic Caucus, which has been meeting this afternoon, gave her the nod.

Paiva Weed, who has served as Senate majority leader, will succeed ousted North Providence Democrat Joseph Montalbano as president. Montalbano lost his legislative seat in last week's election.

Before giving Paiva Weed the Democratic Caucus endorsement, Sen. Daniel P. Connors, a Cumberland Democrat, was elected this evening to succeed Paiva Weed as majority leader.

-- With reports from Katherine Gregg of the Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- State Sen. Daniel P. Connors, a Cumberland Democrat, has just been elected majority leader of the Rhode Island Senate.

Connors is a 32-year-old lawyer who is set to take the place of M. Teresa Paiva Weed.

At a Democratic caucus at the State House today, The Journal reported on Friday, Paiva Weed hopes and expects to win endorsement to be Senate president from a "sizable majority" of Democrats. She aims to succeed Democrat Joseph Montalbano, who lost his legislative seat in last week's election.

-- With reports from Katherine Gregg of the Journal State House Bureau and Journal archival reports

National Park Service map
The site of the fatal canoeing accident on Sunday, where a pedestrian bridge crosses the Blackstone River at Pratt Dam. The map is part of a guide to canoeing the Blackstone, which recommends portaging, or carrying, canoes around the archways.

CUMBERLAND -- A 17-year-old Cumberland boy died in the Blackstone River yesterday after the canoe he and his father were in capsized at the stone arches of Pratt Dam.

The two were identified this afternoon by police as William King IV, of 52 Crowell St., and William King III, who was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The arches are part of a structure that spans the Blackstone and carries a pedestrian and bike path.

Cumberland police Sgt. Mark England said today that it appears the two were planning to canoe through the arches, or tubes -- a practice known as "shooting the tubes."

The two were heading into one of the tubes when the canoe got hung up on a log and tipped over, according to Valley Falls Fire Chief Brian Jackvony, whose department is nearby. The father fell out of the canoe, and was swept out through the tube.

However, the boy's leg became entangled in a rope used to tie up the canoe to land and the canoe became wedged after it capsized.

The situation was exacerbated by a strong current swollen by rainfall from the night before. The water was still rushing at around noon today; Jackvony told a reporter at the scene that it was about the same level as yesterday, though not unusually high.

Jackvony today said he knew that the two had both canoed through the tubes before.

William King III told a Journal reporter today that he and his son, a freshman at Community College of Rhode Island who graduated from Cumberland High School last spring, did much together.

They recently went to hear British rock legends The Who play in Boston. They liked to go snowboarding and, if they came across a double-diamond trail -- designation for most difficult at a ski spot -- they would take it.

King said today that the two hadn't seen any signs or warning near the dam. Even if there had been, he said they probably would have tried the shoot anyway.

But, he said, he thinks the area is dangerous and that people probably should not be allowed to go through in canoes or other types of craft.

He said he and his son had started their journey around 10 a.m., heading from Albion Falls to where the river enters Heritage Park at Cumberland Town Hall.

Just before the arches, he said, their canoe had been pushed into a turn by the current, then sideways against the structure. As the water built up, the canoe went over. King said he ended up going through one of the tubes; his son, another.

In its online Blackstone River and Canal Guide, the National Park Service cautions that paddling through the arches is not recommended for anyone. Instead, it says, paddlers should portage around the area. An online map marks the site with "!CAUTION!"

But, according to Jan Reitsma, executive director of the area called the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, unlike a major national park, the park service does not own such heritage areas and cannot put an outright ban on passing through.

Pratt Dam itself is owned by the town of Cumberland, according to the state Department of Environmental Management.

Rescue workers yesterday said it took nearly four hours to retrieve the teen's body. A crane was lowered into the river to stem the flow enough to allow recovery, they said. After recovery, the teen was pronounced dead at the scene.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney with reports from Journal staff writer Mark Revynolds and projo.com staff writer Maria Armental

>> Continue reading: Update: Site of fatal canoe accident considered dangerous

PROVIDENCE -- A hearing to determine whether Governor Carcieri can be held in contempt of court -- for not following a judge's order before enacting a crackdown on illegal immigrants -- has been postponed until Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union wants Carcieri held in contempt for not seeking public comment before implementing an executive order regarding illegal immigrants. The ACLU asked for the postponement today because its lawyer is dealing with a family emergency.

Carcieri's order requires companies doing business with the state to use a federal database, E-Verify, to check the immigration status of new hires.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Carcieri could install the program. But it said he had to follow state laws requiring his administration to notify the public and accept public comment before imposing the new rules.

-- The Associated Press

BRISTOL -- An historic mansion and the setting for some scenes in the movie The Great Gatsby is getting a record donation.

The estate of the late Alfred Shepherd has bequeathed $1 million to Linden Place, an 1810 mansion and museum. Museum officials on Monday announced the donation, which is the largest single gift in the mansion's history.

The mansion was built by General George DeWolf and was later home to Industrial Trust Company founder Samuel Colt and other Colt family members. The Federal period building now hosts weddings, concerts, lectures and historic tours.

Linden Place also made an appearance in the 1974 film starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

-- The Associated Press

The Carcieri administration is refusing to disclose the number of unused vacation and sick days it awarded recent state retirees who, in some cases, walked out the door with severance checks averaging $10,500.

In total, taxpayers paid $16.5 million in severance payments to the 1,521 state workers and college employees who retired in the five months before the price of health coverage for new state retirees went up on Oct. 1.

While the average payout was a reported $10,500, former Rhode Island College president John Nazarian got a check for $129,158.

If all of the jobs were left vacant, the state would presumably save tens of millions of dollars in salaries and benefits. But first the taxpayers have to pay the retirees for unused vacation and sick days, the deferred pay they were promised as a concession for taking a pay cut during the financial crisis of 1991 and, in some cases, the early-retirement bonuses of $7,000 to $20,000 offered to state college employees.

In a series of back-and-forth emails over the last week, Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said the Department of Administration had decided that it was barred from releasing any further details about these severance payments by the state's Access to Public Records Act, under an exemption for personally-identifiable information.

Past administrations detailed the severance pay given, for example, to former Lottery director John Hawkins, former court administrator Matthew Smith and Richard Mumford, a one-time associate commissioner of education.

In 2001, when Mumford, the husband of a Republican lawmaker, retired two months shy of his 59th birthday, he left with a $50,427 retirement incentive and another $81,964 in state payments that reflected for 494.5 hours of unused vacation, 303.8 hours of unused sick time and the deferred payment of wages sliced from every state employees' paycheck during the 1991 fiscal crisis. In total, the state disclosed at that time that Mumford left with a $132,392 in severance payments on top of his $5,554 a month pension.

When asked yesterday why the Carcieri administration had shutoff access to details of this nature, Kempe said: " I cannot answer as to why past Administrations chose to not follow APRA.''

She said someone she would not identify in "legal'' had responded in this way to The Journal's request for information about more recent retirees: "She is not entitled to be provided with employee information she seeks consisting of hours of unused sick time, vacation days, Sundlun deferral days, etc. That is because information that is not specifically exempted ... is exempt from disclosure.''

EAST PROVIDENCE -- A 63-year-old man's body was found this morning behind a North Brow Street commercial building, and police are treating the death as suspicious.

Police Chief Hubert Paquette said the man had an injury to the back of his head. "Right now, it's suspicious and we're not ruling anything out," the chief said.

Paquette said the department is waiting for a finding of the cause of death from the Office of the State Medical Examiners, which is doing an autopsy today.

The body was found at about 5:15 a.m. North Brow Street is in the eastern part of the city, off Waterman Avenue, near train tracks.

The chief said the police have identified the person but will not be releasing that information until speaking to the next of kin.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

NARRAGANSETT -- A University of Rhode Island student is in the intensive care unit at Rhode Island Hospital today after losing control of his car early Saturday morning and crashing against a utility pole.

Police said Kimly E. May, 21, a junior at URI studying nursing, was driving west on South Pier Road. He apparently lost control of his Audi as he bore left, causing the car to spin and crash against the pole on the passenger side just behind the doorjamb, said Capt. Capt. Gerald D. Driscoll.

Police responded to the intersection of South Pier Road and Lakewood Drive at 3:23 a.m.

May was travelling alone. No other vehicles were involved. The accident remains under investigation.

May, whose driver's license lists his address as 56 Conklin Ave., Haverstraw, N.Y., is a member of the university's track team.

By C. Eugene Emery Jr.
Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON -- Eight local boys, ages 14 to 16, are headed to Family Court after they allegedly broke into a house at one of the town's busiest intersections and tried to use it for a "pot party" before Friday night's football game.

They were spotted just after 3 p.m. after one of the teens temporarily got stuck in the window trying to enter the home at Lincoln Avenue and County Road.

And when the police arrived, the teens refused to let them in; an officer had to climb through the same window to open enter the house, which had been unoccupied for two weeks, according to Police Chief John LaCross, who released details of the break-in today.

When they were confronted, the students reeked of marijuana, said LaCross, who speculated that the teens used the delay to flush the pot down the drain.

All juveniles, whose names were not released because of their ages, were corralled in the basement, brought to the police station, and returned to their parents after being charged with breaking and entering. One was also charged with marijuana possession.

PROVIDENCE -- The state is facing a revenue shortfall of at least $200 million this year, according to updated projections.

Back in May, officials estimated that the sales, income and business taxes would generate $2.6 billion, but it now appears that those taxes will generate just $2.4 billion.

The estimate is for the current fiscal year, which began July 1 and ends June 30.

Revenues have been off because of the economic downturn.

The estimate, generated during the semiannual Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference, does not include updated estimates for the Rhode Island Lottery, which is generally the fourth biggest revenue producer. Lottery revenues are not expected to meet previous estimates.

Representatives from the Governor's budget office, the House and Senate fiscal offices participate in the conference.

-- By Journal staff writer Steve Peoples

...

CUMBERLAND -- Police identified the 17-year-old who died yesterday in a canoeing accident on the Blackstone River as William King IV of 52 Crowell St.

His father, William King III, who shared a canoe with his son at the time, was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

More on the accident ...

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

WOONSOCKET -- A Providence man charged with beating and robbing an elderly man was arraigned on a new charge of murder today in District Court after the man died from injuries suffered in the attack.

Santiago Pena, 54, of 116 Julian St. was arraigned before Judge Michael Higgins.

Special Assistant Attorney General Pamela Chin said that Pena broke into 71-year-old Ivon Dufresne's apartment at 63 Rutland St. Nov. 2 in Woonsocket and beat him severely and strangled him. The medical examiner on Friday said that Dufresne died Nov. 4 from injuries caused by the beating.

Pena seemed unaware that he was now being charged with murder. "What? I murdered?", he said speaking through an interpreter.

Pena will be held without bail pending a bail hearing Nov. 17. His original charges of first degree robbery and burglary remain, according to Chin.

PROVIDENCE -- A Rhode Island State Police officer testified today that he seized an envelope from the Division of Motor Vehicles desk of then-DMV clerk Dolores Rodriguez-LaFlamme after her arrest.

The envelope on the desk contained documents linked to illegal Rhode Island driver's licenses, State Police Cpl. John A'Vant testified.

He took the stand before the federal government rested its case today against Rodriguez-LaFlamme, who is standing trial in U.S. District Court in Providence on charges of conspiring to unlawfully produce driver's licenses that were sold to illegal immigrants and criminals for about $2,500 apiece.

State Police Detective Matthew C. Moynihan also testified today, saying that some of the people LaFlamme produced licenses for are now in custody for drug offenses.

Another former Division of Motor Vehicles clerk, Soraya Santiago, earlier testified against LaFlamme as part of a plea agreement with the government.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

PLAINVILLE, Mass. (AP) -- Plainville police say a number of teenagers are facing arraignment for attending an underage drinking party in town.

Thirteen people between the ages of 15 and 19 were arrested Friday at a drinking party in the woods, just three weeks after a 17-year-old Plainville girl died following a party at an abandoned airport in nearby Norfolk.

Authorities say Taylor Meyer drowned. Teens from Plainville and Norfolk attend the same regional high school. It was the third party in the region police have broken up in the past few weeks.

Police found beer and other alcoholic drinks as well as marijuana at Friday's party. All the teens arrested were released to their parents, and most will be arraigned today.

-- The Associated Press

HOPKINTON, R.I. (AP) -- An Oklahoma-based truck stop chain has proposed building a highway rest stop off Interstate 95 in Hopkinton.

Rick Shuffield, director of real estate for Love's Travel Stop and Country Stores, said his company wants to build a facility that can accommodate nearly 150 cars and trucks. He said it would include a convenience store and a restaurant.

The company said building the facility would create 57 full-time jobs.

Planning Board Chairman Alfred DiOrio said the truck stop is not what town authorities envisioned creating near Exit 1.

-- The Associated Press

Gas prices in Rhode Island fell another 12 cents in the past week, the eighth straight week of falling prices, according to AAA Southern New England.

The average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline is $2.239 at the self-service pump, according to AAA's weekly survey.

The price of gas has dropped $1.32 per gallon since September 15.

Rhode Island is currently one cent below the national average of $2.24 for self-serve regular. A year ago at this time the average price of regular unleaded gasoline in Rhode Island was $3.039.

The price for diesel is down 16 cents this week to $3.28.

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island Community Food Bank will kick off its annual Holiday Meal Drive at 10 a.m.

With demand surging, the food bank is trying to collect five additional truckloads of donations through Dec. 31. Ocean State Job Lot will deliver the first donated load this morning.

Donations can be dropped off at the Food Bank, 200 Niantic Ave., Providence.

The Food Bank is feeding about 39,000 Rhode Islanders a month, a 12 percent increase over last year through a network of 300 certified member agency programs.

PROVIDENCE -- State officials and economists reconvene this morning for the last session of the state's semiannual Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference.

Today, economists will revise their revenue estimates.

Last week, economists said earlier projections were based on data from late September.

Today's session will begin at 9 a.m. in room 35 at the State House.

GROTON, Conn. -- Officials at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton say they have reached a tentative agreement with a union representing 2,400 workers.

EB and the Metal Trades Council have released a joint statement saying details of the agreement will be revealed to union members today.

The previous five-year contract between the union and the company expired Friday, but both sides agreed to extend it through next week so that negotiations could continue. The two sides have been negotiating since September.

Electric Boat, a division of General Dynamics Corp., makes nuclear submarines and employs more than 10,000 people in Groton and Quonset Point, R.I.

Members of the union still have to vote on any new contract.

-- The Associated Press. Information from The Day.

PROVIDENCE -- Pretrial motions could begin Wednesday in the murder trial of Gilbert Delestre, of Woonsocket, who is charged in the brutal death of a 3-year-old boy in 2004.

The motions were scheduled for hearing last week, and jury selection was expected to start today, but the judge was busy with another case and the motions could not be heard last week, according to the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.

Delestre and his then girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell, were accused of beating to death Bunnell's nephew Thomas "T.J." Wright after they returned to their Woonsocket apartment Oct. 30, 2004, and found a mess the child had made on the living room floor.

The couple had taken custody of Bunnell's three nephews in February 2004 after her sister, Karen Wright, was convicted of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and was sentenced to 2½ years in prison in Illinois.

Delestre and Bunnell accused each other of causing the fatal injuries.

Bunnell was found guilty on May 16 of second-degree murder and murder conspiracy in the child's death. She was sentenced to life in prison last month.

The attorney general's office says the motion hearings could start Wednesday at the earliest.

(Correction: This item had incorrectly reported that jury selection would begin today.)

PROVIDENCE -- Democratic lawmakers are expected to hold an open caucus this afternoon to replace Senate President Joseph Montalbano, who was unseated in Tuesday's election.

Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed is expected to receive her party's endorsement, making her the front-runner to take over the Senate presidency.

The entire Senate will officially elect the new president when lawmakers reconvene in January.

If elected, Paiva-Week would become the first female Senate president.

Democrats are also expected to endorse a new majority leader to replace Paiva-Weed, if she should become the new president, and other party leadership changes.

The caucus will convene at 5 p.m. in the State House.

-- With reports from the Associated Press.

PROVIDENCE -- A hearing has been scheduled to determine whether Governor Carcieri can be held in contempt of court for not following a judge's order.

The American Civil Liberties Union wants Carcieri held in contempt for not seeking public comment before implementing an executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Carcieri's order requires companies doing business with the state to use a federal database, E-Verify, to check the immigration status of new hires.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Carcieri could implement the program, but he had to follow state laws requiring his administration to notify the public and accept public comment before imposing the new rules on employers.

The hearing is scheduled for this afternoon in Superior Court.